Fresh data showing political donations for the 2022-23 financial year has been released, shedding light on the companies and individuals handing their money over to Australia’s political parties.
The annual release by the Australian Electoral Commission gives voters insights into how much each party, or candidate, is getting and who they are receiving it from.
In 2022-23, the major parties reported $210.7m in donations and other receipts – which include fees to attend the parties’ business forums, public funding from the AEC and other payments.
Records showing how much the significant third parties are getting, such as lobby groups and unions, are also released.
Here are some of the biggest donors to parties and groups for the post-election year.
Clive Palmer and Mineralogy
Topping the year’s donations was Clive Palmer’s mining company, Mineralogy, which donated a total of $7.1m over the year to the United Australia party he founded.
Palmer’s position as the top donor has carried over from the previous year, when the mining company tipped $117.1m into his minor party during the federal election.
Yet after all that spending, UAP won just one Senate seat.
Anthony Pratt and Pratt Holdings
Another major donor after Labor’s election to government was Anthony Pratt, the billionaire head of plastic packaging company Visy.
Pratt’s Pratt Holdings gave the Labor party $1m in 2022-23, snubbing the Liberal party entirely for the first time since 1998.
Since 1998, Pratt Holdings has donated $15.9m to political parties with $10.1m directed toward the Coalition and $5.5m for Labor.
Cormack Foundation Pty Ltd
The Liberal-aligned funding body the Cormack Foundation donated $3.5m to the party.
Almost $2m went to the federal Liberal party directly while a $1.5m sum was handed to the party’s Victorian division.
Among its directors are the former prime minister John Howard, the Victorian businessmen Charles Goode and Peter Hay, and the former Victorian senator Richard Alston.
Vapold
The Victorian-based Vapold gave $2.7m to the Liberal party’s Victorian division in 2022-23, though it was listed under the “other receipts” category.
The company, which lists Alston and the former Victorian Liberal treasurer Alan Stockdale as directors, is considered another associated entity of the Liberal party.
Hadley Holdings
Significant third parties were also on the receiving end of large donations with conservative lobby group Advance Australia receiving one of the largest.
The Perth-based company Hadley Holdings was recorded as donating a little more than $1m to Advance Australia.
The company’s directors are listed as Brian Hadley Anderson and Lena Hilton, according to Asic records.
The Union Education Foundation
The unions also appeared on the list of top donors with the Union Education Foundation donating two sums in June 2023 to the Australian Council of Trade Unions totalling $770,000.
Registered as a charity, its listing says the foundation provides “education and training to trade unions, union members and the public, principally in Australia”.
It counts union leaders Sally McManus and Michele O’Neil and the former Victorian Labor premier Steve Bracks among its directors.
Marcus Catsaras
The teal-funding group Climate 200 also raked in a big sum, receiving $1m from the Australian investor Marcus Catsaras in May 2023.
Catsaras is the chief investment officer for the energy trader StepChange and an advocate for action on climate change.
Robert Keldoulis
Another major backer of Climate 200 was Robert Keldoulis, a Sydney man who founded trading company Vivcourt.
Keldoulis donated $702,113 to the group over the year, including $565,000 in December alone.
He has previously donated to the ACT senator David Pocock and the comedian Dan Ilic’s It’s Not a Race group.
Heston Russell
The former SAS commando Heston Russell is listed as donating $650,000 to his party, the Australian Values party.
Russell wound up the party in June 2023 and it was voluntarily deregistered in August 2023.
• The main picture and caption on this article was amended on 2 February to make clear that Sally McManus and John Howard were board members or directors of organisations that made political donations, rather than personal donors.
